Group of Friends Arrested in Russia for Doing ‘Harlem Shake’ on WWII Memorial

Stop The Presses!

Wendy GellerMarch 8, 2013

Group of Friends Arrested in Russia for Doing ‘Harlem Shake’ on WWII Memorial

There's nothing that puts a damper on one's Harlem shake faster than getting busted by the cops -- as a group of Russian buddies quickly found out when performing the dance craze on top of a war memorial in their town.

The five friends filmed their performance for YouTube and carefully followed the correct procedure: One dancer grooved alone for about 30 seconds, then the rest joined in -- some of them jumping on the memorial, which is an army tank from World War II.

The troupe told local police that they chose to dance on the tank as a tribute of sorts to a pal serving in the army. Very nice, but no dice -- they were all arrested as a result.

The "Harlem Shake" dance -- which was brought to prominence 12 years ago by hip-hop artist G. Dep and repopularized this year by up-and-coming music producer Baauer -- has mostly been just a fun viral phenomenon, sparking numerous knockoffs and millions of plays online. But the Russian incident isn't the first time the dance has sparked trouble. Earlier this month, a group of Colorado college students came under fire by the Federal Aviation Administration for performing the dance on a commercial flight. And in February, four Egyptian students were arrested for Harlem shaking publicly in their underwear.